1832.] 



A COFFEE ESTATE. 



a rude kind of quadrangle ; in the centre of which a large pile of coffee 

 was drying. These buildings stand on a little hill, overlooking the 

 cultivated ground, and surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green 

 luxuriant forest. The chief produce of this part of the country is 

 coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an average, two 

 pounds ; but some give as much as eight. Mandioca or cassada is 

 likexvise cultivated in great quantity. Every part of this plant is 

 useful : the leaves and stalks are eaten by the horses, and the roots are 

 ground into a pulp, which, when pressed dry and baked, forms the 

 farinha, the principal article of sustenance in the Brazils. It is a 

 curious, though well-known fact, that the juice of this most nutritious 

 plant is highly poisonous. A few years ago a cow died at this Fazenda, 

 in consequence of having drunk some of it. Senhor Figuireda told me 

 that he had planted, the year before, one bag of feijao or beans, and 

 three of rice ; the former of which produced eighty, and the latter three 

 hundred and twenty fold. The pasturage supports a fine stock of 

 cattle, and the woods are so full of game, that a deer had been killed 

 on each of the three previous days. This profusion of food showed 

 itself at dinner, where, if the tables did not groan, the guests surely 

 did : for each person is expected to eat of every dish. One day, having, 

 as I thought, nicely calculated so that nothing should go away untasted, 

 to my utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared in all their 

 substantial reality. During the meals, it was the employment of a man 

 to drive out of the room sundry old hounds, and dozens of little black 

 children, which crawled in together, at every opportunity. As long as 

 the idea of slavery could be banished, there was something exceedingly 

 fascinating in this simple and patriarchal style of living : it was such a 

 perfect retirement and independence from the rest of the world. As 

 soon as any stranger is seen arriving a large bell is set tolling, and 

 generally some small cannon are fired. The event is thus announced 

 to the rocks and woods, but to nothing else. One morning I walked 

 out an hour before daylight to admire the solemn stillness of the scene ; 

 at last, the silence was broken by the morning hymn, raised on high by 

 the whole body of the blacks ; and in this manner their daily work is 

 generally begun. On such fazendas as these, I have no doubt the 

 slaves pass happy and contented lives. On Saturday and Sunday they 

 work for themselves, and in this fertile climate the labour of two days 

 is sufficient to support a man and his family for the whole week. 



April l^th. Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on the Rio 

 Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that direction. 

 The estate was two and a half miles long, and the owner had forgotten 

 how many broad. Only a very small piece had been cleared, yet 

 almost every acre was capable of yielding all the various rich productions 

 of a tropical land. Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the 

 proportion of cultivated ground can scarcely be considered as any- 

 thing, compared to that which is left in the state of nature : at some future 

 age, how vast a population it will support 1 During the second day's 

 journey we found the road so shut up, that it was necessary that a man 

 should go ahead with a sword to cut away the creepers. The forest 



